METEORS. 1/9 



was first fit for life, there was no living thing on it. 

 There were rocks, water, air all round, warmed and 

 illuminated by a brilliant sun, ready to become a 

 garden. Did grass, and trees, and flowers spring into 

 existence, in all the fulness of a ripe beauty, by a fiat 

 of Creative power ? or did vegetation, growing up from 

 seed sown, spread and multiply over the whole earth ? 

 Science is bound, by the everlasting law of honour, to 

 face fearlessly every problem which can fairly be 

 presented to it. If a probable solution, consistent with 

 the ordinary course of nature, can be found, we must 

 not invoke an abnormal act of Creative power.' 



He then proceeds to consider under what circum- 

 stances regions which in some respects resemble, or 

 may be supposed to resemble, the lately cooled earth, 

 become under our eyes the abode of abundant life. 

 6 When a lava stream flows down the side of Vesuvius 

 or Etna it quickly cools and becomes solid ; and after 

 a few weeks or years it teems with vegetable and 

 animal life, which for it originated by the transport 

 of seed and ova, and by the migration of individual 

 living creatures. When a volcanic island springs up 

 from the sea, and after a few years is found clothed 

 with vegetation, we do not hesitate to assume that seed 

 has been wafted to it through the air, or floated to it 

 on (natural) rafts.' 



c Is it not possible,' he proceeds to ask, ' and, if 

 possible, is it not probable, that the beginning of 

 vegetable life on the earth is to be similarly explained? 

 Every year thousands, probably millions, of fragments 



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